but defense with.gov says the secretary of defense is responsible for the formulation of general defense policy and president obama's nominee to be the next defense secretary had a hard time handling questions about some recent defense policy successes like the 2007 troop surge in iraq. >> will you please answer the question? will were you correct or incorrect when you said that the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? yes or no? >> my reference to the -- >> will you answer the question, senator hagel? the question is, were you right or wrong? that's a pretty straightforward question. i would like to answer whether you were right or wrong and then you are free elaborate. >> well, i'm not going to give you a yes or no answer. >> let the record show he refuses to anti-question. >> a senior obama administration official says it was shocking and dispinting that there were more questions about the war in iraq then about the ongoing war in afghanistan and that official also acknowledged hagel's long day on the hi